Oklahoma governor indicators Texas-style ban on most abortions

Oklahoma’s Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt has signed a Texas-style abortion ban that prohibits abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press

3 Might 2022, 23:03

• 4 min read

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma’s Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a Texas-style abortion ban on Tuesday that prohibits abortions after about six weeks of being pregnant, a part of a nationwide push in GOP-led states hopeful that the conservative U.S. Supreme Courtroom will uphold new restrictions.

“I would like Oklahoma to be probably the most pro-life state in the country," Stitt tweeted after signing the invoice.

Stitt's signing of the invoice comes on the heels of a leaked draft opinion from the nation's high courtroom that it is contemplating weakening or overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade determination that legalized abortion almost 50 years ago.

The invoice Stitt signed takes impact instantly with his signature, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court docket on Tuesday denied an emergency request to temporarily halt the bill. Abortion suppliers say now that the new legislation is in impact, they are going to instantly cease offering services for ladies after six weeks of pregnancy.

“While the law is in impact, which it now could be because the governor signed it, abortion services after six weeks will likely be largely unavailable," mentioned Rabia Muqaddam, a staff attorney for the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Oklahoma abortion providers within the case. “It’s a short-term loss, but we’re hopeful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court will nonetheless grant us reduction."

The brand new law prohibits abortions once cardiac exercise could be detected in an embryo, which experts say is roughly six weeks into a being pregnant, earlier than many ladies know they're pregnant. An identical bill authorised in Texas last year led to a dramatic reduction within the variety of abortions performed in that state, with many women going to Oklahoma and different surrounding states for the procedure.

Dr. Iman Alsaden, the medical director of Deliberate Parenthood Nice Plains, stated Texas' legislation that took impact in September has given their employees an idea of what a post-Roe nation may seem like.

“Since that day, my colleagues and I have frequently handled patients who are fleeing their communities to seek care," Alsaden stated. “They’re taking day off of labor, taking day out of school and taking time away from their family responsibilities to get the care that until September 2021 they have been able to get safely and readily in their communities."

The invoice authorizes abortions if carried out as the result of a medical emergency, but there are no exceptions if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

Just like the Texas regulation, the Oklahoma invoice would permit private citizens to sue abortion suppliers or anybody who helps a woman acquire an abortion for as much as $10,000. After the U.S. Supreme Courtroom allowed that mechanism to remain in place, other Republican-led states sought to repeat Texas’ ban. Idaho’s governor signed the first copycat measure in March, though it has been temporarily blocked by the state’s Supreme Courtroom.

Stitt earlier this year signed a bill to make performing an abortion a felony crime in Oklahoma, but that measure isn't set to take impact until this summer time, and authorized consultants say it's prone to be blocked as a result of the Roe v. Wade determination still stays the regulation of the land.

The variety of abortions performed each year in Oklahoma, which has 4 abortion clinics, has declined steadily during the last two decades, from more than 6,200 in 2002 to three,737 in 2020, the fewest in additional than 20 years, according to knowledge from the Oklahoma State Division of Well being. In 2020, earlier than the Texas regulation was passed, about 9% of the abortions carried out in Oklahoma had been ladies from Texas.

Earlier than the Texas ban took impact on Sept. 1, about 40 women from Texas had abortions carried out in Oklahoma each month, the information reveals. That number jumped to 222 Texas ladies in September and 243 in October.